Free Lovers
by the-little-guru
Summary: In which an airbending madman rediscovers his tether in the spirit world. (The fic sucks a lot less than the description, by the way.) Written for round 3 of the Probending Circuit.


Prompts: Write about your OTP going on their first date; Love; Amber; "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." - Buddha

Element: Spirit

Season: fall

Word count:1454

* * *

In the world, the tangible world, emotions ceased to exist. Happiness, sadness, excitement, hate, love...they were all one and the same now, all a large sea of insensitive grey inside of his chest. He had entered the void. His mind and spirit were free.

And yet, he was still tethered to the earth by chains in his cell.

But that was of little consequence since he could project his soul into a whole other plane, a different world of insubstantial objects where attachment would not hinder his ability to levitate. It was his new area of residence now. He'd been projecting his spirit into the metaphysical world ever since his failure to liberate society.

Now, if only he could find his singular attachment, the one being that could stimulate emotional reactions from him. If only he could find his only source of love, happiness, and humanity...

He'd been scouring the neverending spirit world for one and a half years, never finding a trace of her. However, he wasn't particularly disappointed either; he hadn't really hoped for anything in the first place. Hope was nothing more than an unnecessary tether. Hope did not catch any fish...or in his case, firebenders...

He acted without emotional impetus. Currently, he in body, spirit, and intentions, simply existed, with nothing else attached. He was nothing more than a cloud of aether drifting through the rolling plains of the spirit world.

He glanced down robotically, scanning the yellowing spirit meadow, dotted with the giant, freckled caps of vividly colored spirit mushrooms. In front of him, the horizon was a bright, white tinted blue of pale autumn sunlight, but with no sign of who he was looking for. He almost had to stop himself from sighing in dejection.

No matter. He would keep searching elsewhere...

_Wait_...

There! Among the tree-like blades of grass was a telltale speck of red and black, a tiny aberration in the sea of tawny grass. But he allowed no happiness nor hope to pervade his mind, at least not until he confirmed that it was her.

He wheeled in the air and allowed himself to dive like an eagle for a fish, plunging headfirst towards the grassy sea below. As his target grew closer, he could see her familiar features once again, clarifying his hazy memories of her face. Slowly, as he sank further towards the ground, his emotions started to spiral outwards again, to bloom and take weight like they did every time he saw her.

"_P'li._" he whispered, softer than the breeze against scudding clouds.

Her head snapped up to meet his eyes, and all the air exited Zaheer's chest, leaving him breathless. Her eyes, like chips of amber washed with dark wine, never ceased to shock his impenetrable demeanor. Slowly, he drifted down, like a leaf through still air, until finally, his feet rested on the ground in front of her.

He looked up into the tears welling up in her burgundy eyes. Neither of them moved for an infinitely long moment. Then Zaheer exhaled deeply, pushing down the fear that she was only a figment of his imagination. Hesitantly, he reached a hand up to run his fingers over her fine cheekbones, over her rosebud lips and the deadly, dangerous vertical eye on her forehead. To confirm that she was really present.

Suddenly, something collapsed in his chest and all the years of suppressed emotions flooded out like hurricanes billowing through the autumn sky.

He rushed forwards and wrapped his arms around P'li's torso, so tightly that he felt all the air leave her chest. As Zaheer felt P'li embrace him back, he sighed, allowing a single tear of happiness to escape his eye.

_I love you._

* * *

Later, the two of them strolled through a quiet spirit wild of stone trees, with clear, amber leaves. Sunlight refracted off the crystalline foliage and dappled the cool dusty ground like patches of liquid gold. Silence rested over them like a soft blanket as they reveled in each other's company.

"Zaheer." whispered P'li suddenly, "Do you remember when we first met?"

Zaheer looked up at her and smiled slightly. Indeed he did remember...

"Yes. You tried to kill me." said Zaheer in amusement. He remembered that day when he and Ghazan had tried to rob a rich warlord's pantry in the Fire Nation. Suffice to say, it was quite a shock when a fifteen year old girl sprung out of nowhere and almost blew off his arm with her mind.

"Sorry." smiled P'li, not sounding the least bit repentant, "I wouldn't have tried if I'd known you were my liberator." she said, turning around to take both of his hands in hers.

"I have no regrets about anything." said Zaheer, looking deep into her eyes.

"I wish I could say the same." sighed P'li, glancing away towards the ground, eyes moist with shame.

Zaheer gently framed her cheeks with his hands, tilting her head back towards the front.

"Look at me." he said sternly, "You've done nothing wrong. Everything in the universe happens for a reason."

"I...I just can't help but feel that if I could only do one thing different, if I'd been more attentive, or level-headed, or..." she sighed and glanced at him sadly, "Maybe we would be successful. Maybe we could've won and be together, really together. Travel the world, live like a...a typical couple, maybe even have children..."

"P'li...do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future," murmured Zaheer, leaning in close to her face, "Concentrate the mind on the present moment." he whispered, pressing his battle-scarred lips into hers and savoring the resulting rush of wind and fire flooding his mind and body.

P'li broke away first, panting due to the inconvenient necessity for air.

"Seriously?" she smirked, "You decide to quote Laghima now?"

"That's not by...oh never mind." said Zaheer, frowning indignantly.

"Hey, I'm just kidding" smiled P'li, picking him up from the armpits and letting his feet dangle. Their height difference never ceased to amuse her.

"I do not find this entertaining." said Zaheer, halfheartedly glaring at P'li, who was now at his eye level.

"Well, I find it very entertaining." said P'li, swooping in for another kiss.

Suddenly, Zaheer scooped up P'li, bridal style, and launched himself into the air.

"_Eeek!_" shrieked P'li as they twirled through the air, until the canopy of amber leaves was far below.

"_Payback._" Zaheer whispered in her ear.

P'li smacked the back of his head in response. "I don't care how wise you act," she laughed, "I still think you are the most childish person I've ever met."

"Let's be childish then." said Zaheer suddenly, "Really. You've had no childhood before I dragged you into the revolution and landed you in prison."

"True, we really did never have the time to act like proper love-struck teenagers..." said P'li, looking at him pensively.

"P'li." said Zaheer, looking into her eyes somberly, "Would you like to...to go on a...erm...date?"

The firebender raised an eyebrow. "You're seriously asking me on a date?"

"Well...yes. You did say that we've never had time to act like a proper couple."

"It's a little late to ask me after I died, don't you think?"

"It's never too late."

"_Of course._" said P'li, rolling her eyes.

"Especially not now, that we can be together in the spirit world." said Zaheer as he and P'li drifted back down to the amber woods, "We have infinite time ahead of us."

"Zaheer, I would like to spend the rest of my death with you." said P'li sarcastically.

"Don't be caustic, P'li." scolded Zaheer, taking her hand, "What do you want to do? We can tour the spirit world together, and see a fresh scene every day."

"Well, you do owe me a somewhat conventional relationship."

"Every day will be as exhilarating as the first."

"Perhaps I should leave any regrets behind." sighed P'li, "Perhaps we need to start from square one. Let's have a normal relationship. Starting with this..._spirits__, this sounds so juvenile_...this _date._"

Zaheer smiled slightly. All throughout his life, He'd never been normal. He was clever, too gifted, he had too many aspirations. But now that he was forced into confinement, now that he was completely powerless to change the world, now that he has lost everything, whether by choice or not, he finally allowed himself to pursue some semblance of happy ending. In the spirit world, he was free.

The fall winds ruffled the dying amber leaves, bring with them a hint of winter snows.

"Let the past die away." murmured Zaheer, capturing P'li's lips with his own once again, "Here, our life can have a new rebirth. Here, we have true freedom at last."

* * *

a/n: Okay, Please ignore me and my sad attempt at writing fluff. Seriously, I was actually trying to make this fluffy. :(...

(_Why everything I write sound angsty? WHYYYY?_)

Narts.

Anyways, review plz!


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